The Glenn Highway

The Matanuska River valley has long served as a transportation corridor. Before 1900, the Chickaloon-Knik-Nelchina Trail connected coastal Dena'ina and the interior Ahtna Hwt'aene' peoples, including Nay'dini'aa Na' (Chickaloon Native Village). In 1916, the Matanuska Spur of the Alaska Railroad was built up the valley to Chickaloon River along much of that trail's alignment, and later much of the Glenn Highway between Sutton and Chickaloon was constructed on the former railroad bed. Completed in 1945, the Glenn Highway linked the Alaska-Canada Highway to Anchorage at a time when there had been no road access to Anchorage from the Lower 48. Unlike the Alcan Highway between British Columbia and Fairbanks, a military project spurred by World War II, the Glenn Highway was finished with civilian labor. Construction crews cut through rock and forest in summer, moved slowly through steep and dangerous terrain, and in winter built bridges over frozen rivers. The highway opened to the public in 1948, was paved in the 1950s, and in 2003 the stretch between Anchorage and Eureka was designated a National Scenic Byway for its history and culture, unique geology, and outstanding vistas.

Lazy Mountain, Alaska · United States